SrI: SrImathE SatakOpAya nama: SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama: SrImadh varavara munayE nama:
avathArikai (Introduction) – AndAL removed her eyes from the mEl thOnRip pUkkaL [as seen in the previous pAsuram] and looked sideways. There she saw kOvaippazham [fruit of the common creeper of the hedges]. Looking at them she asks “Did emperumAn send you too, to torment me?” In the first pAsuram, the kArkkOdal flowers reminded her of emperumAn’s dark complexion. In the second pAsuram, the mEl thOnRi flowers reminded her of the effulgence of his divine disc. In this, the third pAsuram, the kOvaip pazham reminds her of his divine coral-like mouth and torments her.
kOvai maNAtti! nI un kozhungani koNdu emmai
Avi tholaiviyEl vAyazhagar thammai anjudhum
pAviyEn thOnRip pAmbaNaiyArkkum tham pAmbu pOl
nAvum iraNduLa vAyththu nANiliyEnukkE
Word-by-Word Meanings
kOvai maNAtti! – oh dear! The kOvai creeper!
nI – you
un – your
kozhungani – with beautiful fruits
emmai – my
Avi – life
tholaiviyEl – should not drive it away
vAy azhagar thammai – in matters related to emperumAn who has beautiful mouth
anjudhum – I am very much afraid
pAviyEn – I, who am a sinner
thOnRi – after being born
nANiliyEnukku – in matters related to me, the shameless person
pAmbu aNaiyArkkum – for emperumAn who is reclining as SEshaSAyi [one who is sleeping atop
AdhiSEshan]
tham pAmbu pOl – similar to thiruvananthAzhwAn (his mattress)
nAvum iraNdu uLa Ayththu – there are two tongues
Simple Translation
Oh, dear kOvai creeper! You should not drive away my life, with your beautiful fruits. I am very much afraid in matters related to emperumAn, who has a beautiful mouth. After I, who am a sinner, was born, I became shameless. In matters related to me, emperumAn, who reclines on AdhiSEshan, has two tongues.
vyAkyAnam (Commentary)
kOvai maNAtti – Oh the girl, known as kOvai creeper! Since I am a creeper born in the clan of those who follow vEdhams, are you rearing to fight with me? The term maNAtti could refer to consort or it could refer to fragrance. Does kOvai creeper have a fragrance? Since the kOvai fruit has been mentioned as a simile for emperumAn’s divine mouth, the fragrance of the subject could be extended to the simile. Just as it has been said in chAndhOgya upanishath 3-14-2 “sarva gandha: sarva rasa:” (emperumAn is the repository for all the sweet fragrances and all the sweet tastes), aren’t emperumAn’s divine lips the subject for this fruit? Did not this ANdAL herself ask, as in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 7-1 “karuppUram nARumO kamalappU nARumO thiruppavaLach chevvAydhAn thithiththirukkumO” wondering about how the smell and taste would be for his reddish lips?
nI – is it not enough that the kOdal pU [first pAsuram] and mElthOnRip pU [second pAsuram] had tormented me? Are you, lying amidst bushes, maturing into a fruit [in order to torment me?]
un – you, who are a girl, are without any torment. Should I too not be without any torment? Since you are not aware of the distress of separation, there is no need for you to torment yourself. Since you were born as a girl, should you not remain without showing yourself to me and tormenting me, who is also a girl?
kozhungani koNdu – Isn’t your fruit looking great, similar to the reddish divine lips, your subject of comparison?
emmai – do I have the strength to tolerate the harm which you are carrying out?
Avi tholaiviyEl – instead of troubling me superficially, you are tormenting me at my life’s level, which you should stop. Avi – abode of life. Alternatively, Avi could be taken as referring to life itself, in which case, the meaning would be: already the kOdal pU and the mELthOnRi pU are tormenting my life. Why are you tormenting it further? Since it is an achEthanam (entity without knowledge), could it understand what she is saying and respond to her query? It does not have a mouth to respond. However, since it is tormenting her by reminding her about the divine, coral-like mouth of emperumAn, forgetting that it is an achEthanam, she is asking it to stop tormenting her life.
vAyazhagar thammai anjudhum – even during the time that I was together with emperumAn, who has a beautiful mouth, unable to bear its [mouth’s] sweetness, I used to close my eyes. At the time of separation, since other objects could remind me of it [his divine mouth] and torment me, I used to close my eyes. I had already been afraid of the divine coral-like mouth. Since no one is telling me, who am scared, “Do not be scared” I am very much afraid. When I say “I am afraid”, just as it has been said in bhagavath gIthA 18-66 “sarva dharmAn parthyajya mAmEmam SaraNam vraja l aham thvA sarva pApEbhyO mOkshayishyAmi mA Sucha:” (Discarding all deeds of righteousness [as the pathway to means], along with their scent, attain me alone as the means. I will relieve you from all your sins. Do not grieve), should you not say “Do not fear” and go away from my line of vision? Since you are not doing that, I am afraid.
pAviyEn thOnRi – Was it not after my birth that emperumAn’s nature changed such that I had to fall at the feet of this kOvai creeper”? Before my birth, during the time when periyAzhwAr and emperumAn used to discuss esoteric subjects, these were not present. Was it not after my birth that such discussions stopped?
pAviyEn thOnRi … nAvum iraNduLavAyththu – during the time of periyAzhwAr, he could not say even one or two words. If he spoke a couple of words which were contradictory, his connection with periyAzhwAr would have got severed. Hence, during those times, he would say only one word. Is he not the one who made periyAzhwAr, who did not know his true nature, to compose hymns as in periyAzhwAr thirumozhi 2-6-4 “onRE uraippAn oru sollE solluvAn” (making dhuryOdhanan say “I will not live together with pANdavas” and “I will not yield even a tiny part of my land to pANdavas”)? Is he not being indifferent to me thinking “When I speak the way that I want, let her live if she could or get destroyed”?
pAviyEn thOnRi – she is speaking the same way in which sIthAp pirAtti had spoken as in SrI rAmAyaNam sundhara kANdam 26-11 “khyAtha: prAgya: kruthugyaScha sAnukrOSaScha rAghava: l sadhvruththO niranukrOSa: SankE madhbhAgyasankshayAth” (I have a doubt that SrI rAma pirAn, who is well known as being knowledgeable and grateful, became merciless only because of my misfortune) and the same way in which bharathAzhwAn had spoken, as in SrI rAmAyaNam ayOdhyA kANdam SlOkam “na mantharAyA na cha mAthurasyA dhOshO na rAjgyO na cha rAghavasya: l mathpApamEvaAthara nimiththamAsIth vanapravESE raghunandhanasya ll” (It is not due to any fault on the part of manthara or my mother or my father or SrI rAma’s that rAghavan had to go to the forest. My pApam (misdeed) alone became the reason for it).
pAmbaNaiyArkkum – emperumAn did not speak in contradictory way because he has the nature of talking in a contradictory manner like this. It is because of moving with AdhiSEshan that this has come to pass – friendliness with the mattress where he was reclining and apart from that, reciting in the ear while reclining on the bed [since snakes have two tongues, she says that emperumAn, after moving with and reclining on AdhiSEshan has got into the mode of speaking with two tongues].
pAmbaNaiyArkkum – emperumAn gave his divine body to thiruvananthAzhwAn who desired that emperumAn should recline on him, embracing him.
tham pAmbu pOla – the anger which started against emperumAn, extended up to thiruvananthAzhwAn to such an extent that even though he is the mattress for her too, she dissociates him from her and makes him as if he exists exclusively for emperumAn. The meaning hinted is that emperumAn has become capable of sustaining himself forgetting her because of this bhOgam (bhOgam refers to serpent [AdhiSEshan] as well as to enjoyment). If a relationship has to be severed, it is customary to unite that person with emperumAn. ANdAL herself had said this in nAchchiyAr thirumozhi 7-10 “pAnchasanniyaththaip paRpanAbhanOdum vAyndha perum suRRamAkkiya ….” while severing the relationship of SrI pAnchajanyAzhwAn with her and uniting him with emperumAn. Through severing the relationship with her, she is destroying his svarUpam (basic nature). ALavandhAr in his chathuSlOki 1 had said “paNipathiSSayyAsanam…” (thiruvananthAzhwAn is mattress and seat for pirAtti). Thus, he is mattress for her too. Kings would denote the land which they gift to their regal consorts as padukkaip paRRu (dowry on account of bed). Thus, mattress is a consort’s right too. Referring to thiruvananthAzhwAn being together with emperumAn is due to her anger, just as she is going to say with anger in the tenth pAsuram of this decad “thangaL dhEvar ” while uniting periyAzhwAr with him, in anger.
nAvum iraNdulavAyththu – just as a person would speak in two contradictory ways if he had two tongues, ANdAL says that emperumAn has two tongues since he is speaking in two different ways. She says that the pramANams seen in the saying “thadh brUhi vachanam dhEvi! rAjgyO yadhabikAnkshitham l karishyE prathijAnE cha rAmO dhvir nAbhibhAshathE ll” (Oh lady! Please tell that word which the king desires. I will do that way; I make a vow. rAma will not speak in two different ways) and as said in mahAbhAratham udhyOga parvam 70-48, when krishNa tells dhraupadhi “dhyau: pathEth pruthivI SIryEth himavAn SakaleebhavEth l sushyEth thOyanidhi: krushNE! na mE mOgham vachO bhavEth ll” (Oh krishNA [dhraupadi is called as krishNA]! Sky may fall; earth may break into smithereens; himAchalam may break into pieces; ocean may dry up; but my word will not go waste) have got falsified in her matter. When they were together, emperumAn had told ANdAL that “I will not separate from you; if I separate, I cannot sustain myself”, but made it a false word when he separated from her. His words of lies which he had told her are still being considered as eminent in the world, she feels and hence, in her opinion, he has two tongues.
nANiliyEnukkE – due to change in his words, his nature too has changed. If that may be so, should her eminent, feminine quality of shyness too change, when she is the divine daughter of periyAzhwAr? If there is a delay in his protecting me, instead of forgetting it, in order to attain him and enjoy him, should I speak without any shyness bringing a fault to his divine complexion? periyAzhwAr, instead of desiring to carry out servitude to emperumAn as an outlet for enjoying him, had worried about his safety and had sung pallANdu thinking of only good omen for him. She wonders as to what is the connection between her being born as the divine daughter of such periyAzhwAr and her lack of shyness.
Next, we will consider the 4th pAsuram of this decad.
adiyEn krishNa rAmAnuja dhAsan
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